Hugh w



H. w. COLLENDER.

BILLIARD TABLE CUSHION.

(No Model.)

Patented Apr. 10,1883.

N. PETERS. Mo-Lithogrlpber. wmuhgm. 0.0a

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGH W. OOLLENDER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BlLLlARD-TABLE CUSHION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 275,593, dated April 10, 1883. Application filed December 29,1882. (No model.)

, the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this application.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in billiard cushion-strips; and it consists in a rubber cushion-strip having one or more longitudinal holes or cavities runningthroughout the length of the strip,and having the working face or portion harderor more dense than the perforated body portion.

In another application filed by me simultaneonsly with this I have shown and described a perforated billiard cushion-strip substantially similar, so far as the feature of having the body of the strip perforated is concerned, with what is shown and described in this application but in the present case the subject-matter of the invention consists in the combination, with such perforated cushionstrip, of aharder or more dense working-face.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my present invention, I will now proceed to more fully describe the same, referring by letters to the aceompanyin g drawings,forming part of this specification, and in which I have illustrated my improved cushion-strip as applied to the cushion-rail of an ordinary billiard-table, and have also shown several modifications of my improvement.

Figure 1 is a sectional View, showing the cushion-stripappliedtothecushion-rail. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are respectively cross-sections (on an increased scale) of my improved cushionstrip under various modifications as to the sizes, number, shapes, and arrangements of thelongitudinal perforations; and Fig. 5'is an enlarged view of cushion seen at Fig. 1.

In each figure D is the body portion of the strip, and g the harder or more dense face, while 0 represents the longitudinal holes or cavities.

The face 9 ofthe cushion may he hardened by the incorporation in the rubber strip of canvas or other fibrous 'material, according to a previous invention of mine,kuown in the marof the cushion-body may be made of various shapes and may existin the cushion-body under various arrangements, the said longitudinal perforations operating, however, in all cases to? render the body portion of the cushion capable of being more readily and rapidly com pressed or displaced by the force of the blow of the ball,and capable of more readily resuming its former condition, and hence ofmore rapidly repelling the ball. The hardened face 9 oper ates, as usual, to prevent too great embedment of the ball in the face of the cushion,and thus to render the cushion capable of throwing the ball off at angles of reflection more nearly equal to the angles of incidence than would be possiblein the use of a rubber cushion-strip having its face equally soft and indent-able with the rest of the cushion.

. It will be understood that in acushion-strip thus made with a comparatively hard face, and with the main body portion longitudinally perforated, the said body portion will act more after the fashion of a series of separate springs behind the hard facing than would a body portion made solid, and that bythis different sort of action of the body portion the cushion is made livelier without any impairment of its capacity torepel the ball at correct angles, while at the same time the cushion-strip will contain less rubber, and consequently can be manufactured and sold cheaper than cushionstrips as now made with hardened faces.

Of course many modifications may be made in the sizes, shapes, and arrangements of the longitudinal perforations and in their relationship to the hardened face of the strip without departing from the spirit of myinvention, the gist ofwhich rests in the idea of a rubber cushion-stri p having a comparatively hard face and a softer body portion, the springiuess of which body portion is augmented by the presence of the longitudinal holes or perforations, in the mannerand for the purposes already explained.

I do not therefore wish to be understood as limiting my claim of invention either to any precise shapes or arrangements of the longitudinal perforations or to any precise shape or form of cushion strip, so long as the cushion .ture running longitudinally, which did not act has acomparativelyhard face and has its body longitudinally perforated, so that while the face can act in the usual manner it will be backed up by a body portion which will permit the recession of the face portion when struck by the ball, and which will cause said face portion to resume its normal condition more rapidly than in the case of a similarly face-hardened cushion -strip having a solid body portion.

I am aware that prior to my invention billiard cushion-strips have been made which had a hardened face and which also were cored out longitudinally; but in such cushions the internal aperture or hollow space was air-tight, so as to operate with its contents as an aircushion.

I am also aware that billiard cushion-strips have been heretofore made with a small aperas an air-cushion, and havingarranged intermediately ofthe said longitudinal perforation and the soft face of the cushion a metallic strip or ribbon-like device, as seen, for instance, in the patent of Mayer; hut in the last-mentioned construction of cushion there is no such conjoint action between the hardened face and one or more apertures located in rear thereof as is shown and described in my case.

What I therefore claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A rubber billiard cushion-strip of diamond shape or triangular in cross-section,having its face or working-surface hardened or rendered more dense than the rest, and formed or provided with an open-ended hole or holes running longitudinally through the cushion, the whole constructed and operatiugsuhstantially as described, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereofI have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this 27th day of December, 1882.

HUGH W. COLLENDER.

In presence of- M. El. SMITH, A. M. AUSTIN. 

